With demand for renewable energy growing, concentrator photovoltaic thermal hybrids have great potential.
Maximising concentration ratios through the deployment of multi-stage optics can yield high power outputs from
multi-junction solar cells. To prevent damaging thermal stress and to enable extraction of thermal energy, a
capable ...
With demand for renewable energy growing, concentrator photovoltaic thermal hybrids have great potential.
Maximising concentration ratios through the deployment of multi-stage optics can yield high power outputs from
multi-junction solar cells. To prevent damaging thermal stress and to enable extraction of thermal energy, a
capable cooling system is necessary.
The primary objective of this study is to maximise the effective concentration ratio over a solar cell and
calibrate the system to optimise the energetic and exergetic efficiencies. The capability of the serpentine-based
cooling system is investigated for each concentrator optic configuration. Originality is found in the presentation
of the 3-stage optic, and the use of outdoor real-world experimental data to validate a computational model. This
model uses both ray tracing, heat and mass transfer simulations to enhance the understanding of system operation and enable accurate prediction of performance under various conditions. Results show focal spot shape is
more important than raw optical efficiency for electrical output, making the 3-stage optic superior to the other
configurations in most regards. An effective concentration of over 1200 × is achieved. Higher exergetic efficiencies are consistently found in the double serpentine configuration, though variation does not exceed ±0.3%
when only changing cooling system geometry.